Afghan election: international observer 'moved' by voting

The chief European Union observer says the election was "a victory
against all those who wanted to mar these elections by violence"

6:28PM BST 06 Apr 2014

Ballot boxes were brought to counting centres across Afghanistan, a day after millions of the country's citizens voted to choose a new president and provincial councils.

Electoral officials said partial results could come imminently, but it was likely to be at least a week before a complete picture emerges.

They urged patience, saying complaints were still being logged and ballots tallied.

Thijs Berman, the head of the European Union's election assessment team in Kabul, on Sunday said it was too soon to draw firm conclusions, but hailed the vote as "a victory against all those who wanted to mar these elections by violence".

"I was impressed. I was moved personally as a democrat coming here on the invitation of the Afghan authorities to observe this elections, to make a assessment of it, to evaluate them," he said.